Microscale Opto-Electronic Tetherless Electrodes (MOTEs) for Chronic Neural RecordingSunwoo LeeLocation: Virtual
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Abstract:
Opto-electrical integration on CMOS can enable a class of autonomous microsystems for physiological monitoring. I will discuss one such example, a micro-scale opto-electronic tetherless electrode (MOTE) that we have designed and built for tetherless neural recording. The MOTE is powered and communicates optically through a vertically integrated AlGaAs micro-scale light emitting diode (µLED), eliminating the needs for a battery or a RF coil; the MOTE is smaller than a human hair (~70µm × 20µm × 370µm), weighs about one 1 µg (cf. a grain of sand is about 670 µg), and can function inside a mouse brain for months. Such minimally invasive and chronic physiological monitoring microsystem can provide an effective means for chronic studies inside various animal models as well as organoids. I will delve into the unique challenges and considerations in developing such heterogeneous systems in terms of device fabrication, circuit design, integration, and manipulation, and conclude the talk with how the heterogeneously integrated CMOS can serve as a future cell–scale bioimplants platform.
Speaker Bio:
Sunwoo Lee (Member, IEEE) received the B.S. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY in 2010, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University, New York, NY in 2012 and 2016, respectively, working on graphene synthesis and graphene-based nano-electro-mechanical systems for signal processing and sensing applications. In 2016, he joined the Molnar Group in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Cornell University as a post-doctoral researcher (and later research associate and lecturer) and worked on heterogeneously integrated CMOS for physiological monitoring and high-speed wirelines. In 2023, he joined the Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore as an assistant professor.
Sunwoo was a recipient of Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship (QInF) 2012 as well as QInF 2013, and a recipient of Pi-Star Award for Young Researcher Presentation at CARBONHAGEN 2015.